ADELAIDE TAKES POLITICS INTO THE PUB

About 80 people came to the first Politics in the Pub, held on March 15 to hear John Spoehr and Dr Jane Lomax-Smith on the topic "Has Privatisation Failed?"

Jane Lomax-Smith, former Lord Mayor of Adelaide and Labor candidate for the marginal State seat of Adelaide challenged the emphasis on efficiency in areas like health and education.

'One of the worst effects of privatisation that churches and other sectors that pick up the funding for the outsourced services become dependent on the money and lose their capacity to criticise governments', said Dr Lomax-Smith.

John Spoehr, Executive Director of Adelaide University's Labor Research Centre struck a positive note by pointing out that many key assets and services were in public hands and that disasters like the California power crisis had increased the possibility that they could be reclaimed by a reformist government.

The two presentations were followed by lively discussion. In fact a suggestion by the chair that the meeting, which commenced at 6.30, be closed at 8pm was firmly rejected by the audience, most of whom stayed on for another hour.

Most of the questions and comments focused on what could be done to reverse privatisation. These included; the development of a petition to oppose privatisation; building a renewable energy and conservation initiatives that would over time reduce the value of the privatised energy generation plants and grid and tracking contracts as they came up for renewal to identify which ones were worth buying back.

The next Politics in the Pub, Victims or Villains, Australia's treatment of refugees will be held at 6.30 on Thursday April 26 at the Governor Hindmarsh Hotel. The speakers will be Don Macmasters, academic and author of a recent book on refugees, Jeremy Moore, an Adelaide solicitor who is developing a High Court challenge to mandatory detention and Denis Voight of the Coalition for Justice for Refugees.

For more information call David or Deborah on 08 83326970.